Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to energy harvesting, and more particularly to systems and methods for planning and predicting performance for energy harvesting devices, such as light based photovoltaic cells, heat flux based thermogenerators, or ambient RF energy based devices distributed in buildings.
Description of Related Art
The performance of an energy harvesting device i.e. harvestable average energy, peak energy, and minimum energy, is largely determined by the availability of light energy at the mounting location of the device, inside a building for example, and the efficiency of the conversion mechanism, for example photovoltaic cells, employed by the harvesting device. It is thus important to understand not only the availability of energy at a point-in-time but also its variability over time. In a typical residential building the lighting conditions in a room could vary from dark to daylight to interior lights on any given day. However, there are no traditional systems that can holistically take into account these variations to predict device performance. For an average user it is therefore very difficult or even impossible to make useful prediction about the un-interrupted operation of solar powered devices mounted indoors, for example.
Such conventional methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is still a need in the art for improved energy harvesting system planning and performance. The present disclosure provides a solution for this need.